Musing Monday 7/23/18

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:

I’m currently reading…
Up next I think I’ll read…
I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
I can’t wait to get a copy of…
I wish I could read ___, but…
I blogged about ____ this past week…

Random Question: Do you ever make a reading playlist?

I love to read, but silence is not one of my favorite things. When you are outside in nature, there is always some kind of natural soundtrack. I particularly love reading near water. Inside, though I have found you can get that odd to me unnatural silence. So I always tend to have something playing, TV, music or sometimes a rain soundtrack things like that.

Recently I have caught myself making a playlist here and there for sitting down to read a certain genre. I haven’t done it for a specific book just yet, but I have a historical fiction playlist and an adventure playlist so far. Is it just me? I know I am weird, so it could be. LOL.

Book Review: Famous in Love (Famous in Love #1) by Rebecca Serle

The romantic story of a girl who gets plucked from obscurity to star in the next major feature film franchise based on a book and the ensuing love triangles she gets entangled in on—-and off screen.

Meet Paige Townsen, Rainer Devon, and Jordan Wilder…

When Paige Townsen, a young unknown, gets cast in the movie adaptation of a blockbuster book series, her life changes practically overnight. Within a month, Paige has traded the quiet streets of her hometown for a crowded movie set on the shores of Maui, and is spending quality time with her co-star Rainer Devon, one of People’s Sexiest Men Alive. But when troubled star Jordan Wilder lands the role of the other point in the movie’s famous love triangle, Paige’s crazy new life gets even crazier.

In this coming-of-age romance inspired by the kind of celeb hookups that get clever nicknames and a million page views, Paige must figure out who she is – and who she wants – while the whole world watches.

I lost a dare with a friend, who wanted to watch this series. I of course have to read before I watch, what can I say I am really a stickler for that. So I sat down, knowing very little about this one, it sounded a little Twilight to me and I was not wrong. Alas guess what I confess I enjoyed Twilight and I found myself enjoying this book as well.

Yes, it is full of the typical tropes of YA with the instant love and the sort of triangle and all the silly drama that comes up. I mean seriously. However, you can’t say some of this stuff isn’t right out of Hollywood because there is a reason we call it Hollyweird and I personally could never live in LaLa land full time. Paige is your typical girl who suddenly gets tossed into the deep end. I can relate to her on many levels. We all have a time and a road to find out who we are, can you imagine having to do that in the fishbowl which of course is what Paige has to do. People are obsessed with celebrity, so much so you get the situation like Paige, before her movie even comes out.

She is famous for being famous.

All in all I enjoyed the book, it wasn’t my super favorite, but I don’t regret spending time with the characters. Best yet, I wasn’t yelling about glitter at any point during the reading.

My Gemstone Rating:

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Book Review: Intentions of the Earl (Scandalous Sisters #1) by Rose Gordon

Will he secure his future by ruining hers, or will she ruin his plans by securing him? A new twist on the old fortune hunter plot puts an impoverished earl in a position to gain his fortune only by ruining an innocent’s reputation without offering marriage. The innocent he’s selected, however, has no plans to settle for anything less than marriage and will go to almost any length to secure him.

With no other means for an income, the impoverished Andrew Black, Earl of Townson, makes an agreement that will put a definite end to his eight year poverty streak. But, in order to gain his fortune he must do only one simple thing: ruin an innocent young lady’s reputation enough to make her flee to America.

Brooke Banks isn’t interested in marriage, or so she thinks. She came to London to have a good time, and that’s exactly what she’s doing. Widely known for her tendency to flout the rules, she suspects nothing when a handsome stranger appears on her doorstep.

Thirteen days, a handful of kisses and one scandalous situation later, Andrew and Brooke will have to choose to stick to their original plans, or decide if a life together is worth the risk.

I got this book as an Amazon freebie and to be honest, I did not have super high expectations going into this one. It seemed like it would be a little bit of fun to read while I was on the tube and such in England. I was happily surprised this book actually got my interest and I found myself invested in the characters.

Brooke was a firecracker and I really loved the way she happily teased and flaunted and act like a “typical” American of her era while her other sister flitted and worried about proper protocol. Andrew is an interesting character. Sure, he is the typical member of the Ton that needs money because he has a really bad Dad and some other family issues. However, he is observant and funny and a bit of fun. The ending well dang it, I was in tears when he presents her with all the paper roses. I won’t detail more than that so I am not giving it away, but it is a beautiful moment.

This is a little bit predictable as a book, it has many of the usual bodice ripper tropes. That does not mean it is a bad thing. Sometimes you just want to curl up with a book that has something familiar about it and have an easy enjoyable read. To me this book provided that and it was even more fun for me reading it while in England because I treated myself to walking to a few of the places mentioned in it, while I read. So the bottom line for me, I enjoyed this one and I am going to put the second book of the series on my To read pile. If you like an easy read fun little book you will probably enjoy this one too.

My Gemstone Rating:

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Teaser Tuesday 7/17/18

Welcome to Teaser Tuesday, the weekly Meme that wants you to add books to your TBR, or just share what you are currently reading. It is very easy to play along:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! Everyone loves Teaser Tuesday.

“When a woman thinks her husband is a fool, her marriage is over. They may part in one year or ten; they may live together until death. But if she thinks he is a fool, she will not love him again.”~ The Other Queen (The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels #15)by Philippa Gregory

Musing Monday 7/16/18

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:

I’m currently reading…
Up next I think I’ll read…
I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
I can’t wait to get a copy of…
I wish I could read ___, but…
I blogged about ____ this past week…

Welcome to July. Goodness where is the time going this year? It seems to be going by very fast!

Random Question: Do you ever get teased or looked at oddly for reading?

My recent travels made me notice a few things I have been overlooking for a long time. I love to read, I always try to bring a book with me either in my Kindle or a hard copy anytime I go somewhere. I do this with crochet as well, but let’s stick to the books for the moment, lol. At home, I tend to get more judgmental looks and I have even had people call me weird for choosing to sit in a park and read for several hours. I have been teased as a bookworm both good natured and not so good natured.

However, while I was abroad, I didn’t have any of those things happen. Instead, I was several times asked what I was reading and had some nice conversations about books. I noticed overall there were a lot of other people reading as well. I saw people like me reading on public transport or in parks just enjoying a nice day. I am not saying this doesn’t happen in the US and I am not saying everyone in Europe reads, but there were enough moments that happened to make me take note.

Book Review: The Virgin’s Daughters: In the Court of Elizabeth I by Jeane Westin

In a court filled with repressed sexual longing, scandal, and intrigue, Lady Katherine Grey is Elizabeth’s most faithful servant. When the young queen is smitten by the dashing Robert Dudley, Katherine must choose between duty and desire-as her secret passion for a handsome earl threatens to turn Elizabeth against her. Once the queen becomes a bitter and capricious monarch, another lady-in-waiting, Mistress Mary Rogers, offers the queen comfort. But even Mary cannot remain impervious to the court’s sexual tension-and as Elizabeth gives her doomed heart to the mercurial Earl of Essex, Mary is drawn to the queen’s rakish godson…

I wanted to like this book so much more then I did. I read some of the reviews, but since I have enjoyed other books by the author and do love historical fictions in the time of Elizabeth I, it seemed like this would be a hit read. Sadly for me this book did fall a little bit flat. It was not a completely awful book but in the end it was just a bit repetitive and trite overall.

On nearly every single page at least once we the reader were reminded that at any moment Lady Katherine Grey could be named the heir to the throne. This of course was seen as a totally awful thing that the Lady did not want and we were told again and again how much she didn’t want it. With that being the very loud overall theme it was a little harder to get into the other events going on over that kind of noise.

It also felt for me that a lot of the characters were not fully fleshed out and I felt many of them were vapid because of this. With those negatives said there were some bright moments here and there. The book also flowed fairly well which is what saved it from a lower rating. My end thoughts are if you want to take a chance on a book give it a try. Otherwise if you don’t have much interest in the time period or taking risks give it a pass.

My Gemstone Rating:

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Teaser Tuesday 7/10/18

Welcome to Teaser Tuesday, the weekly Meme that wants you to add books to your TBR, or just share what you are currently reading. It is very easy to play along:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! Everyone loves Teaser Tuesday.

Tricky wordpress didn’t postas scheduled luckily I caught it before it was to late today! Hope everyone is having a terrific tuesday.

“When that unhappy day arrives, Mistress I will come for you, though I would tell you now that your firstborn son will not gain the title. Have no illusions of that, since I have five sons living. I will of course, make ample provision for ours.” ~ The Virgin’s Daughters by Jeane Westin pg 303

Musing Monday 7/9/18

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:

I’m currently reading…
Up next I think I’ll read…
I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
I can’t wait to get a copy of…
I wish I could read ___, but…
I blogged about ____ this past week…

Welcome to July. Goodness where is the time going this year? It seems to be going by very fast!

Random Question: How does reading making you feel?

This might seem like a silly question to ask, but I know when I am reading I can run a gamut of different emotions, about the book and just in general. The first thing I tend to feel when I pick up a new book to read is excited. It is something fresh and new to dive into. New stories to know about, new people to meet you can’t go wrong. I will also fully admit to the fact that more than once a book has made me laugh out loud, or sob or feel overly emotional in many different ways. I really love books.

Teaser Tuesday 7/3/18

Welcome to Teaser Tuesday, the weekly Meme that wants you to add books to your TBR, or just share what you are currently reading. It is very easy to play along:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! Everyone loves Teaser Tuesday.

Tricky wordpress didn’t postas scheduled luckily I caught it before it was to late today! Hope everyone is having a terrific tuesday.

The priest coughed, his eyes searching the rear of the chapel, mentally finding his place in the wedding service. “I, require and charge you as you will answer at the dreadful day of judgement that if either of you do know of any impediments…. ”

“There are no impediments, ” Ned said impaitiently, his arm going reassuringly about Kate’s slender shoulders. “Get on!”
~ The Virgin’s Daughters by Jeane Westin pg 98

Musing Monday 7/2/18

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:

I’m currently reading…
Up next I think I’ll read…
I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
I can’t wait to get a copy of…
I wish I could read ___, but…
I blogged about ____ this past week…

Welcome to July. Goodness where is the time going this year? It seems to be going by very fast!

Random Question: How do you feel about book of the month type clubs/groups?

I used to belong to some fantastic book groups when I lived in Minnesota. We didn’t have books we read at the same time but we got together and talked about our reads and just enjoy time together. Really I find myself missing that rather a lot. I have not been able to find a group like that since moving from Minnesota and I wish I could. I tried a monthly book club locally to where I am now but I just found that I didn’t really fit with that. I like to read what I want to read and well most of the books being read by that group were not ones I really enjoy. Not one historical in the bunch! Gah! And they were not willing to listen to the new girls thoughts on changing it up a little. So in the end I stopped going, fair enough not every group is for every person. But I do miss getting together with like minded people, friends and having a nice chat about books and just life and everything else. How about you?

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